That Naaman the Syrian betookebetook himselfehimself to JudæaJudea at the perswasionpersuasion of the
Prophet, and washdwashed himselfehimself seven times in the river Jordan, is to be ascribdascribed
to his confidence in the Prophets words, but that heehe was freed from the Le=
prosy by that washing, is a miracle of divine omnipotence: For the Leprosy,
which being seated in the blood, and radicallradical parts of mans body, is as it were
an universalluniversal Canker, cannot be cured or taken away by any externallexternal -
washings, much lesseless of cold water, such as was of Jordan. After the same -
manner that the Philosophers brassebrass diseased with an Hydropsy, Should be
freed from it by the washings of water, yea that being imperfect it Should be
reduced to perfection, and being sickesick to health, soeso as to be able to coḿunicatecommunicate
the same to other sickesick bodyesbodies, is next to a miracle: For such an example is
not elswhereelsewhere extant in nature, nor is it the ordinary way of nature to pro=
duce the Philosophers most absolute tincture, unlesseunless it be governed by art, -
and fittfit subjects administredadministered to it with the externallexternal efficient. SoeSo the resti=
tution of luxations or dislocations is not peculiar to nature, but art: Neverthe=
lesseNevertheless the Os Sacrum opens itselfeitself miraculously in the birth of a child, that -
the infant may thereby have egresseegress, as by a door, and herein the most great
and mercifullmerciful God operates by nature above nature: SoeSo that the Stone -
should be perfected, may seemeseem to be a thing supernaturallsupernatural, though really
it is naturallnatural: Wherefore saythsays a Philosopher in the Rosary, You must know -
that our stone is airy and volatile, externally cold and moist, internally -
hotthot and dry: and that coldnessecoldness and moisture which is externallexternal, is a watrywatery
fume, corrupting, blacking, and destroying itselfeitself and all things, and flyesflies
from fire: and that heat and siccity which is internallinternal, is gold hotthot and dry,
and is a most pure oyleoil, penetrating bodyesbodies, and is not fugitive, because the
heat and siccity of AlchymyAlchemy tingethtinges, and nothing elselse: Cause therefore the
externallexternal coldnessecoldness and watrywatery moisture, to be like to the internallinternal heat and
siccity, soeso that they may agree and be united together, and all at once be=
made one penetrating, tinging, and fixing body: but these moistures must be
destroyddestroyed by fire, and degrees of fire with soft temperament, and a congruous
and moderate digestion: These there: But if true, how can it be freed from -
water by water? but it may be answered, that some certainecertain waters are -
hotthot and dry in quality, such as are many baths, in which it must be Phi=
losophically washed: For this is that which they say, wash with fire, and -
burneburn with water; for that fire, which washethwashes, and that water, which bur=
nethburns, differ one from the other in name onelyonly, but agree in effect and ope=
ration: That brassebrass therefore must be

washdwashed, that is, dryeddried from its super=
fluous moistures by this water, or this fire: WeeWe have knowneknown experiments -
of HydropicallHydropical bodyesbodies cured by six monethsmonths abstinence from any drinkedrink, -
by being buryedburied in hotthot sand, or CowesCows dung, by being put in a hottt fur* =
nace, and sweating, and innumerable other helps, yea allsoalso by drying -
baths, such as are at Carolina and Wisbadenses not farrefar from Mentz:
By the same wayesways must this Patient be cured, sometimes by waters, -
sometimes by the hotthot aireair of furnaces, sometimes by dung, sometimes Sand,
and by abstaining from drinkedrink: for these are most effectualleffectual remedyesremedies in both
cases, here and there to be used: but in all these things heat is the operator, -
which drawesdraws forth and consumes the superfluous water by the EmunctoryesEmunctories
or allsoalso pores of the body: For externallexternal heat quickens the internallinternal, that is,
the vitallvital Spirits, to expellexpel that moisture which is noxious to it, as an unpro=
fitable excrement, by which the naturallnatural heat was before suppressdsuppressed as by -
an enemy: In this cure there is need of great diligence and præcautionprecaution, -
lest whilst one bowellbowel is helpdhelped, another be hurt: In a Quartan (the Plato=
nickePlatonic probation of a PhysitianPhysician) weewe find, that thickethick and viscous humors,
like the gummegum or glewglue of trees, being gathered together from all the veins -
and massemass of blood, doedo descend through the hollow or great veinevein even to the
bottomebottom of the backeback, where obstructing the emulgent veins, which draw
the serous humor out of the blood, or the passages of them, they are lesseless -
able to operate, and more serous liquor remainesremains in the body, and soeso in
a short time, if care be not taken, a Dropsy may happen, the other bowellsbowels
being allsoalso untainted at first: DiureticksDiuretics doedo here little or noeno good, purgatives
yet lesseless, unlesseunless diminution and eduction be made in some certainecertain series of -
time: SudorificksSudorifics are allsoalso manifestly hurtfullhurtful, because they draw out the more -
subtillsubtle parts, leaving the thicker, and being continued debilitate the body: for -
the customecustom of nature is to find that way to evacuate serosityesserosities through the pores
when sheeshe is obstructed about the bladder: This therefore is Scylla, the other -
Charybdis, both which heehe that has a mind to præservepreserve himselfehimself ought to -
avoydavoid: But that Dropsy which proceeds from an impaired Liver or Spleen, -
if it be confirmed, is of most difficult cure: Now in the PhilosophicallPhilosophical -
brassebrass the cure is not impossible, the distemper being rather by accident, -
and secundarysecondary, than essentiallessential or primary, provided it be cautiously be=
gun, as weewe have saydsaid concerning the plenty of serum in a Quartan, to -
wittwit, that it may not by overmuch exiccationexsiccation fall into a consumption, or
by humectation into a Dropsy difficult to be cured . . . . . .